The sporting press -- and I am speaking mostly of my fellow scribes -- takes itself entirely too seriously. And never is this better displayed than the Tuesday before Super Bowl.

That is the annual maniac circus known as Media Day.

Little-known fact: the media hates Media Day.

Members of the working press head to Media Day early in the morning, some mumbling under their breath, some openly grousing, almost all looking as if the bus they were boarding was taking them to a long-term stay in a correctional facility.

The problem is that they expect to get work done. (I suspect it is also that many of them are incensed they can’t get more interviews done Tuesday in order to stockpile stories and be able take the latter part of the week off.)

Having expectations about accomplishing something legitimate at Media Day is asinine. It’s a little like my wife expecting I will make the bed in the morning. At some point, a long time ago, it became her problem.

You walk in to Media Day next to a guy in a super hero outfit. You’ve seen him at this thing before and heard him ask players if they’d rather tackle Clay Aiken or Celine Dion.

You know going in that you will see Ines Sainz, the Mexican TV journalist that wears as little as possible and, I believe, is employed full-time by TV Azteca solely to show up this one Tuesday a year and be a distraction.

You cannot be shocked when you see little people in matching garb, or a guy dressed in a revolutionary war outfit or hear the question asked of a player whether he would rather see Andy Reid or Mark Mangino in a thong.

There are 16 podiums set up for the 15 players the NFL deems most desirable for the masses, plus the head coach. The other 48 players and dozen or so assistant coaches are elsewhere on the floor. This year’s Media Day was held in a hockey arena, rather than the stadium where the game will be played. Some 4,000 media members tried to interview all these people.

We know that it will be cramped -- and that this year would be worse than ever.

But, no, the grizzled vets of media wars are continually appalled at all this rather than laughing along.

In fact, one media member (a real, live member of the working press) was so cognizant of the absurdity of this day that he presented several players with this obviously satirical question on Tuesday: “Do you consider this a must-win game?”

Dave Dameshek of NFL.com, you are now a hero of mine. Brilliant.

But, you know what, a number of my brethren were so wrapped up in their bitter blanket that they thought the question was serious.

Goodness. We need to get over ourselves.

Even Marshawn Lynch was fantastic theatre. I mean, I’m no fan of the NFL facilitating a player flaunting a rule, as the league did Tuesday by allowing the Seahawks running back to speak for 6½ minutes and then stand 10 feet from the media in a silent standoff.